Craig Mitchell has kindly sent some of his on the ground reporting, which he’s covering over on the Genii Forum as well from Kentucky:

When you call yourself the ‘convention of the century’ - you’re setting a VERY high standard - and unless you are 100% sure that you are going to over deliver BIG time - the safe money is that you are setting yourself up for a very nasty fall.

The IBM SAM kicked off with an Opening Show at 12:30 pm this afternoon at the nearby Kentucky Center theatre - a short stroll from the main Galt House hotel complex.

If we are going for convention of the century - one would hope ( and expect ) some high powered show to really set the tone - kick off with a bang - and really get the adrenalin going. What we got was 5 minutes of 1970’s computer generated synthesiser music accompanied by a demonstration that the tech guy could use all the settings on the intelligent lighting system - not exactly heart pounding stuff. Five minutes of light show over - and out comes the convention organisers, the society presidents -spouses and the mandatory 10 minutes of speeches along with citations by the ‘replacement’ sent by the mayor who ‘had other engagements’. Note to producers - speeches are BORING. Quite ironical considering the tag line for the convention is ‘it’s all about the magic’

Pleasantries out the way and MC for the show Mac King takes to the stage. Finally - magic time. Mac King was his usual consummate self and ultimately featured his classic material from his Vegas show - cut & restored rope, shadow tent, cloak of invisibility etc. Mac was simply great and has the instant charm that the audience so quickly warms to. The rest of the talent on the show was sub-par.

David Garrard is Louisville’s own illusionist - I don’t know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. Perhaps its a Kentucky speciality to include a blow-up doll as part of your family friendly repertoire ? And when performing in front of 2000 magicians - you have got to be a VERY brave man to use your blow-up doll in your Zig Zag … in goes the doll - slice and dice - and voila out comes the live assistant. From Zig Zag - we went into a Linking Ring routine ( thrilling ) followed by a broomstick suspension. ( dressed up as a family christmas portrait next to a snowman - and yes, we are no where near xmas yet )

No disrespect - but with a budget of THOUSANDS of dollars to spend on opening entertainment - this was the mega illusonist for the show — oh my !

Voronin from Ukraine presented a bizarre act which was meant to be comical ( tables being made to fall down by a piece of string running across the length of the stage isn’t funny to me ) And where is the magic ?

Marty Pollio had to be the strangest choice … part comedian ( not funny ) … not a magician … and an average juggler I’m perplexed as to what possible role he was meant to fulfil ? If you are going for juggler - then please get a good one who is exclusively a juggler.

So we have 2 ‘comedy’ acts - a blow-up doll illusionist - the fantastic Mac King - and to end it all - why not have a bagpipe marching band lead everyone out the theatre.

Not exactly the fantastical start I was hoping for.

The Dealers Room is packed with a great assortment of dealers from around the globe - and naturally is always one of the highlights of any event.

The main lecture this afternoon was Jim Steimeyer - titled ‘The Secret No one Tells You’ … the lecture is held in the main ballroom with jumbo video screens on either side and flat seating for 1500+ delegates. The secret is ‘don’t perform junk magic’ … Jim dispensed some good, practical advice and shared a few tricks along the way - although the connection of the tricks to his message was - I felt - sometimes lost along the way. It was nevertheless well received.

CLOSE-UP CONTEST:

The close-up contest has to quite possibly be one of the biggest ( in terms of venue size ) in history. Held in the main Kentucky Center theatre ( the same venu as the gala shows ) - performers are playing to 1800+ people. A large screen suspended mid stage is showing the action while the performers are on ground level in front of the judges. While I had my doubts having close-up in such an enormous venue - it surprisingly worked okay for me ( but then I still was seated in the first 10 rows so had the benefit of watching both performer and screen ) I don’t know how effective this arrangement was for those viewing from the rooftop.

The contest organisers were on the ball - with everything running very smoothly. 12 competitors formed the first group of close-up contestants.

Craig is also covering this in more detail on the Genii Forum